Anti-slip floor tile and method of making an anti-slip floor tile

ABSTRACT

A floor tile is disclosed that comprises a plate having an anti-slip metal coating. The metal plate has an upper surface, a bottom surface and a plurality of edges provided on all sides of the metal plate that extend between the upper surface and the bottom surface. The anti-slip coating is applied to a central portion of the upper surface, wherein the anti-slip coating is not applied to the upper surface between the central portion and the plurality of edges. At least one recess is formed in the bottom surface that is adapted to receive a portion of an adhesive applied between the bottom surface and a floor. A method is also disclosed for making the anti-slip floor tile, wherein a metal plate is masked at a border provided around the edges of the plate and molten metal is sprayed on a central portion but not on the border.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 63/230,233 filed Aug. 6, 2021, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure is directed to a method of making an anti-slip floortile and the floor tile made by the method.

BACKGROUND

Floor tiles are used in a wide variety of applications and are used fortheir aesthetic appeal, durability, and ease of installation. Floor tileproducts may be made of ceramic, glass, granite, marble, wood and otherhard surface materials. One problem with such floors is that they maybecome slippery when wet when used in areas such as building lobbies orcommercial kitchens. These types of flooring applications are frequentlyexposed to surface hazards such as water and spilled food, beverages,and cooking products.

This disclosure is directed to solving the above problems and otherproblems as summarized below.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of this disclosure, a floor tile is disclosedthat comprises a metal plate with an anti-slip coating applied to acentral portion of the plate. The metal plate has an upper surface, abottom surface and a plurality of edges provided on all sides of themetal plate that extend between the upper surface and the bottomsurface. The anti-slip coating is applied to a central portion of theupper surface. The anti-slip coating is not applied to the upper surfacebetween the central portion and the plurality of edges.

According to other aspects of this disclosure, the floor tile mayinclude a recess formed in the bottom surface that is adapted to receivea portion of an adhesive applied between the bottom surface and asupporting structure, or floor. In addition to the recess formed in thebottom surface of the tile, a plurality of recesses may be formed in thebottom surface. The recesses may be cut into the bottom surface orembossed into the bottom surface.

The metal tile support panel is preferably made of aluminum, or analuminum alloy, but may also be formed of another metal such asstainless steel, steel, copper, brass, or the like. The anti-slipcoating is preferably stainless steel or a stainless steel alloy but mayalso be formed of another metal.

The anti-slip coating is a metal coating that is metalized (applied byplasma stream deposition) on the plurality of intersecting strips. Theanti-slip coating may be applied by other metal-on-metal applicationtechnique provided that the coating provides a textured surface.

According to another aspect of this disclosure, a method is disclosedfor making a floor tile. The method begins with the step of providing ametal plate having an upper surface, a bottom surface and a plurality ofedges provided on all sides of the metal plate that extend between theupper surface and the bottom surface. Next, a border is masked on themetal plate on the upper surface between the central portion and theedges. Molten metal is then sprayed on the central portion of the metalplate to form an anti-slip coating on the central portion but not on theborder.

According to other aspects of the method, the central portion of themetal plate is subjected to grit blasting after the masking step andbefore spraying molten metal on the central portion.

One or more grooves may be cut or embossed in the bottom surface of themetal plate. The groove or grooves are configured to receive a portionof an adhesive applied to the bottom surface and a supporting structureor floor.

The step of applying the anti-slip coating may be performed by sprayinga molten metal coating on the top surface of the metal framework.

The metal framework is preferably aluminum or stainless steel and theanti-slip coating is preferably stainless steel.

According to another aspect of this disclosure, a floor tile isdisclosed that includes a metal plate having an upper surface, a bottomsurface and a plurality of edges provided on all sides of the metalplate that extend between the upper surface and the bottom surface. Ananti-slip coating applied to the upper surface of the metal plate, and aplurality of grooves are provided in the bottom surface.

The plurality of grooves extend across the bottom surface and thegrooves may intersect with each other. Alternatively, a plurality ofrecesses may be provided in the bottom surface in place of or incombination with the plurality of grooves.

The anti-slip coating may be applied to the upper surface at a locationspaced from the plurality of edges.

The above aspects of this disclosure and other aspects will be describedbelow with reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a top of a floor tile made accordingto one embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of a floor tile.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the floor tile.

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the floor tile.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section view taken along the line 5-5 in FIG. 4 .

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the steps of a method of making andinstalling the floor tile shown in FIGS. 1-5 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The illustrated embodiments are disclosed with reference to thedrawings. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare intended to be merely examples that may be embodied in various andalternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale and somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. The specific structural and functional details disclosed arenot to be interpreted as limiting, but as a representative basis forteaching one skilled in the art how to practice the disclosed concepts.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a metal floor tile 10 is illustrated that is aplanar member having a top surface 12 and a bottom surface 14 and isbounded on all sides by edges 16. The floor tile 10 has a centralportion 18 and a border 20 between the central portion 18 and the edges16. An anti-slip coating 22 is applied to the central portion 18 byspraying molten metal on the central portion 18. The process used tospray the molten metal on the floor tile is disclosed in applicant'sprior U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,118, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference.

The metal floor tile 10 preferably includes an aluminum blank that ispartially coated with the anti-slip coating 22 on the central portion18. The anti-slip coating 22 is preferably a stainless steel coating.The aluminum blank may be an aluminum alloy or may be another metal suchas steel, stainless steel, copper, brass, or the like. The anti-slipcoating 22 is a stainless steel alloy or may be another type of metalthat can be heated to its melting point and sprayed on the centralportion 18 of the floor tile 10.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the floor tile 10 is illustrated from the bottom.The bottom surface 14 of the floor tile 10 defines at least one groove24. As illustrated six grooves 24 are formed on the bottom surface 14that extend between opposite edges 16 in a direction normal to the edges16. The grooves 24 may be formed by a machining process or by embossingthe grooves 24 in the bottom surface with a press forming process, aswill be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 6 .

Referring to FIG. 3 , the metal floor tile 10 is illustrated and isshown to include the central portion 18 and the border 20. The border 20is provided around the central portion to facilitate installing thefloor tile 10 on a floor with floor tile adhesive (not shown). Wheninstalling the floor tile some adhesive may accumulate on the topsurface 12 of the tile that would be difficult to remove from the topsurface 12 if the floor tile adhesive is applied to the portion of thefloor tile 10 that is coated with the anti-slip coating 22. The border20 of the floor tile 10 is not coated with the anti-slip coating 22 andprovides a smooth surface from which it is easy to remove any floor tileadhesive from after installation.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the bottom surface 14 of the floor tile 10 isshown to include three grooves 24 extending between the top and thebottom of the view and three grooves 24 extending between the right sideto the left side of the view. The grooves 24 are formed in the bottomsurface 14 to improve adhesion by receiving floor tile adhesive in thegrooves 24 in addition to the adhesive applied to the bottom surface 14when the tile 10 is installed on a floor.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the floor tile 10 is shown in cross-section. Theanti-slip coating 22 is provided on the top surface 12 in the centralportion 18 thereof. The grooves 24 as illustrated are semi-circular aswould be formed by an embossing process but it should be understood thatthe grooves 24 may also be formed as slots having a base and sidewallsas would be formed in a machining process.

Referring to FIG. 6 , a flowchart is provided that illustrates the stepsof a process of making and installing the floor tile 10. The processbegins by providing a metal blank at 30. At 32, a groove 24, or set ofgrooves, is machined or embossed on the bottom surface 14 of the floortile 10. At 34, the border 20 is masked by applying a masking compound,a physical masking member, or the like to the top surface 12 of thefloor tile between the central portion 18 and the edges 16. The topsurface 12 is then abraded at 36 to form a rough surface on the centralportion 18 of the floor tile 10. At 38, molten metal is sprayed on thecentral portion 18 to form the anti-slip coating on the central portion18 of the floor tile 10. After the floor tile 10 is manufactured it istransported to an installation site, at 40 and is attached to a floorwith floor tile adhesive. The adhesive fills the grooves 24 and coatsthe bottom surface 14 of the floor tile 10. After installation, anyadhesive deposited on the top surface 12 of the floor tile 10 isexpected to be on the border 20. The border 20 is provided to facilitateremoval of the adhesive from the border 20, at 42.

The embodiments described above are specific examples that do notdescribe all possible forms of the disclosure. The features of theillustrated embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments ofthe disclosed concepts. The words used in the specification are words ofdescription rather than limitation. The scope of the following claims isbroader than the specifically disclosed embodiments and also includesmodifications of the illustrated embodiments. In addition, the featuresof various implementing embodiments may be combined to form furtherembodiments of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A floor tile comprising: a metal plate having anupper surface, a bottom surface and a plurality of edges provided on allsides of the metal plate that extend between the upper surface and thebottom surface; and an anti-slip coating applied to a central portion ofthe upper surface, wherein the anti-slip coating is not applied to theupper surface between the central portion and the plurality of edges. 2.The floor tile of claim 1 further comprising: a recess formed in thebottom surface that is adapted to receive a portion of an adhesiveapplied between the bottom surface and a supporting structure.
 3. Thefloor tile of claim 2 wherein the recess is one of a plurality recessesformed in the lower surface.
 4. The floor tile of claim 3 wherein therecesses are cut into the bottom surface.
 5. The floor tile of claim 3wherein the recesses are embossed into the bottom surface.
 6. The floortile of claim 1 wherein the metal plate is aluminum and the anti-slipcoating is stainless steel.
 7. A method of making a floor tilecomprising: providing a metal plate having an upper surface, a bottomsurface and a plurality of edges provided on all sides of the metalplate that extend between the upper surface and the bottom surface;masking a border on the metal plate the upper surface between thecentral portion and the plurality of edges; and spraying molten metal onthe central portion of the metal plate to form an anti-slip coating onthe central portion but not on the border.
 8. The method of making afloor tile of claim 7 further comprising: grit blasting the centralportion of the metal plate after the masking step and before the stepspraying molten metal.
 9. The method of making a floor tile of claim 7further comprising: cutting at least one groove in the bottom surface ofthe metal plate that is configured to receive a portion of an adhesiveapplied to the bottom surface and a supporting structure.
 10. A floortile comprising: a metal plate having an upper surface, a bottom surfaceand a plurality of edges provided on all sides of the metal plate thatextend between the upper surface and the bottom surface; an anti-slipcoating applied to the upper surface; and a plurality of groovesprovided in the bottom surface.
 11. The floor tile of claim 10 whereinthe plurality of grooves extend across the bottom surface.
 12. The floortile of claim 10 wherein the plurality of grooves extend across thebottom surface of the metal plate and intersect with others of theplurality of grooves.
 13. The floor tile of claim 10 wherein a pluralityof recesses are formed on the bottom surface of the floor tile.
 14. Thefloor tile of claim 10 wherein the anti-slip coating is applied to theupper surface at a location spaced from the plurality of edges.